Geography
Delhi is located at 28°37′N 77°14′E / 28.61°N 77.23°E / 28.61; 77.23, and lies in Northern India. It borders the Indian states of Haryana on the north, west and south and Uttar Pradesh (UP) to the east. During the British Raj, Delhi was part of the province of Punjab and is still historically and culturally connected to the Punjab region. Two prominent features of the geography of Delhi are the Yamuna flood plains and the Delhi ridge. The Yamuna river was the historical boundary between Punjab and UP, and its flood plains provide fertile alluvial soil suitable for agriculture but are prone to recurrent floods. The Yamuna, a sacred river in Hinduism, is the only major river flowing through Delhi. The Hindon River separates Ghaziabad from the eastern part of Delhi. The Delhi ridge originates from the Aravalli Range in the south and encircles the west, north-east and north-west parts of the city. It reaches a height of 318 m (1,043 ft) and is a dominant feature of the region.
The National Capital Territory of Delhi covers an area of 1,484 km2 (573 sq mi), of which 783 km2 (302 sq mi) is designated rural, and 700 km2 (270 sq mi) urban. Delhi has a length of 51.9 km (32 mi) and a width of 48.48 km (30 mi). Delhi has the third highest quantity of trees among Indian cities. Delhi was one of the ten most polluted cities in the world during the 1990s, with 70% of the polluting emissions produced by vehicles. In 1996 the Centre for Science and Environment started a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court of India that ordered the conversion of Delhi's fleet of buses and taxis to run on Compressed Natural Gas and banned the use of leaded petrol in 1998. In 2003, Delhi won the United States Department of Energy’s first ‘Clean Cities International Partner of the Year’ award for its "bold efforts to curb air pollution and support alternative fuel initiatives".
Delhi is included in India's seismic zone-IV, making it vulnerable to major earthquakes, but earthquakes have not been common in recent history.
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